In order to effectively conduct business, merchants require a point of sale system that can obtain correct product information in an efficient manner. This is particularly true for retail and wholesale merchants, who often sell a wide variety of products, and for distributors of regulated products, such as healthcare providers, liquor stores, gun stores, etc. It is not uncommon, however, for item identification tags or codes to be damaged or lost as a result of handling by customers and/or employees. In those circumstances, an employee must retrieve a second product with intact identification or the operator at the point of sale must guess at a price.
Similarly, merchants and other distributors of consumer products need an effective inventory system in place. Again, in order for any inventory system to be effective, the system must efficiently and correctly identify products moving through the distribution chain and being sold to customers. Ideally, the same system that tracks incoming product shipments also tracks customer sales. These records are regularly reconciled. In the context of regulated industries, for example prescription drugs, an inventory system may serve a secondary quality control function to identify when products disappear or are provided incorrectly, and/or assist in product recalls.
Most consumer items contain many visual and non-visual cues to help determine the identity of the item. Example of these cues may include labels, appearance, and weight, among many others. Technology is currently available that can efficiently obtain, analyze, and search databases using image data and other sensory input. Moreover, point of sale terminals are easily adapted to obtain digital images of products, as well as other sensory input.